Display, dispensing and shipping container



March 22, 1966 F. c. STEINBOCK DISPLAY, DISPENSING AND SHIPPINGCONTAINER Filed July 22, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet l B 9 QM a I NVEN TOR.

March 22, 1966 Q sTElNBOCK 3,241,737

DISPLAY, DISPENSING AND SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed July 22, 1964 3Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

March 22, 1966 F. c. STEINBOCK DISPLAY, DISPENSING AND SHIPPINGCONTAINER Filed July 22, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Q9/1264 gQZfifid BY 9WUnited States Patent 3,241,737 DISPLAY, DISPENSING AND SHIPPINGCONTAINER Fred C. Steinbeck, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The KendallCompany, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed .Inly 22,1964, Ser. No. 384,360 10 Claims. (Cl. 22917) This invention isconcerned with substantially flatsided containers of the type made fromdie-cut and foldscored or otherwise hingedly-connected sheets ofpaperboard, corrugated board or plastic which are glued, sealed orotherwise fastened to form four-sided sleeves which fold flat forcompact shipping and storage. When containers of this type are needed,the sleeves may be opened and containers may be readily assembled byinterlocking or tucking in the end panels.

This invention is particularly concerned with such containers which areuseful for displaying or serving a multiplicity of individual similar ordissimilar items and which additionally may be used to store or ship theitems.

There has been a need for some time for a versatile container in whichindividual items sold by weight or by numerical count might becontained, displayed, served and shipped in the same container. Salesand/or dispensing of such items as individually wrapped candies,toothbrushes, and toothpicks, loose hardware items such as nuts, bolts,screws, hooks and the like, button and snap cards, etc, may befacilitated when packages of this invention are used.

It is an object of this invention to provide an economical, easilyassembled container which may be used for shipping, displaying andserving small individual items.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 illustrates in perspective a container of this inventionpartially opened.

FIGURE 2 illustrates in perspective the container of FIGURE 1 in thefully opened condition.

FIGURE 3 illustrates in perspective a partial view of the container ofFIGURE 1 showing an alternative bin locking device.

FIGURE 4 illustrates in perspective a partial view of the container ofFIGURE 1 showing another alternative bin locking device.

FIGURE 5 shows in cross section the locking device of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 illustrates the blank of the container of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 7 illustrates in perspective a container of the invention withthe panels rearranged and suitable for items extending the full width ofthe container.

FIGURE 8 illustrates the blank of the container of FIGURE 7.

The containers of this invention are preferably made of corrugatedboard. Double-faced corrugated in the range of 125 to 275 pounds persquare inch bursting strength by the Mullens test and in A, B, C and Eflutes is preferred. E flute corrugated makes an excellent cont ainer ofthe invention particularly when white facings are used. Paperboard isalso suitable in proper thickness of about 20-36 points (.020-.036inch). All grades of paperboard such as lusterboard, clay-coated news,patentcoated, bleached manila and chipboard are suitable. Fairly rigidplastics are also suitable and 10 to 20 mil sheets of polypropylene makevery attractive containers.

Referring once more to the drawings:

In FIGURES 1, 2 and 6, the container 10 of this embodiment is seen toconsist of seven main panels 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17 and 19, wing bracepanels 20 and 21, protective flap 18, bottom panels 22, 23, 24 and 25which 3,241,737 Patented Mar. 22, 1966 form a snap bottom, lock strip 16and tuck-in flap 31. Of the main panels, panels 11, 12, 13 and 15 formthe container sides while panel 17 forms the cover and panel 14 overlapsand is fastened in superimposed position to panel 15 prefer-ably bygluing or sealing. Lock strip 16 also is similarly fastened to panel 15.The panels 22, 23, 24 and 25 form the true container bottom but forpurposes of display and dispensing, the container rests on panel 11.

Panels 11, 12, 13 and 15 are hingedly-connected in sequence, that is,panel 12 is connected to 11 and 13 and panel 15 is connected to 11 and13 to form a collapsible four-sided sleeve.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, the flap 31 which normally tucks betweenpanel 12 and wing brace panel 20 carries an opening tab 26 which permitsthe cover 17 to be raised. In FIGURE 1, it is clear that protective flap18 and panel 19 form a dust protective covering along the side edges ofthe cover 17.

When the container rests on panel 11 and with flap 18 raised as inFIGURE 2, the panel 19 may be lowered to an inclined position. A fingernotch 27 facilitates the initial movement. The protruding flap 32 onwing brace panel 21 catches in the notch 33 of lock strip 16 to providea lock which retains the panel 19 in its inclined position. Theindividual contained items thus spill down in contact with panel 19where they may be displayed as in a bin and from which they may beserved. At any time the container may be placed back on its true bottomand the container closed. The particular embodiment depicted in FIGURES1 and 2 might be suitable for in dividually wrapped candies and forloose small hardware items such as rivets, bolts, nuts, screws, fuses,ball bearings and the like. Where the items are larger such as needleenvelopes, button cards and other items whose width approximates that ofthe container, a less elaborate and hence less expensive container 40 asillustrated in FIGURE 7 may be entirely adequate. The inclined panel 47does not have wing brace panels on both sides to form a bin-shapedspillway. But with wide comparatively flat packages, it is unnecessaryto have guards at the sides and wing brace panel 48 acts chiefly as alocking device.

In FIGURES 7 and 8 there are six main panels 41, 42, 43 and 44 formingthe container sides, 46 being the container cover and 47 being theinclined spill panel. The panels 49, 50, 51 and 52 form the snap bottom.Their assembled relationship can be seen in FIGURE 7. These panels aresimilar to the bottom panels of FIG- URES 1, 2 and 6. In the embodimentillustrated in FIGURES 7 and 8, the lock strip 45 is slightly modified.The finger notches 57 and 58 are at the top of the container sides Whileeach of the tuck-in flaps 53 and 54 have opening tabs 55 and 56 whichare placed to fall each within its respective finger notch area when theflaps are tucked in.

In FIGURE 3, the container of FIGURES 1 and 2 is shown with modifiedpanels 15a and 21a. These panels take the place of panels 15 and 21 ofFIGURES 1 and 2. Panel 15a has a protruding flap 28 which catches theleading edge of panel 21a. Lock strip 16 has been eliminated from thismodification as well as that shown in FIGURE 4.

In FIGURE 4, the container of FIGURES 1 and 2 is shown with modifiedpanels 21b and 15b. Panel 15b has a slot 30 into which a short flap 29in panel 21b fits. This is shown more clearly in FIGURE 5. In both FIG-URES 3 and 4, the modifications show alternative means of stopping themovement downward of spill panel 19. Obviously, other stop means may besubstituted without departing from the invention.

The term hingedly-connected as used in the claims and specification ofthis invention to describe the relationship between two panels meansthat the flat panels are joined substantially along the line of theirintersection in such a way that the angle between the panels may bevaried, the hinging action occurring in the area of the connection. Thetwo panels may be, and preferably are, integral, in which case wherecorrugated board or paperboard are the materials used, scoring andbending along the line of demarcation between panels will cause them tobe hingedly-connected. On the other hand, some plastics may require heatscoring with actual thinning of the material along the score line sothat the panels are hingedly-connected. But the term hingedly-connectedalso applies to a structure in which the panels are not integral butrather are joined by flexible material glued, sealed or otherwisefastened to join the slightly separated panel edges.

I claim:

1. A display, dispensing and shipping container comprising sheetmaterial assembled into a flat-sided box, said box including a snapbottom, four sides, an inner cover and an outer cover, said covers beingrespectively hingedly-connected to next adjacent sides of said box,means attached to said outer cover for detachably retaining it in closedposition and at least one wing brace panel hingedly-connected to saidinner cover, said wing brace panel projecting when said box is closedinto said box parallel to the box sides adjacent that side to which saidinner cover is connected and means including said wing brace panelsupporting said inner cover in an inclined position when said box isopen and resting on the box side to which said inner cover is connected.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein said means supporting said innercover in an inclined position include interacting flap means whicharrest further movement of said wing brace panel outwardly of said boxwhen said wing brace panel is supporting said inner cover.

3. The container of claim 1 wherein means for retaining said outer coverin closed position is a tuck flap.

4. The container of claim 1 wherein the container is integral.

5. The container of claim 1 wherein the sheet material is firstassembled into a four-sided, flat-folding sleeve.

6. The container of claim 1 wherein the sheet material is corrugatedboard.

7. The container of claim 1 wherein the sheet material is paperboard.

8. The container of claim 1 wherein the sheet material is athermoplastic resin.

9. A display, dispensing and shipping container erectable from acollapsed, substantially flat four-sided sleeve, comprising a snapbottom formed of interlocking substantially flat panels, four sidepanels hingedly-connected in sequence and upstanding from said bottomwhen said container is resting thereon, each side panelhingedlyconnected to a panel of said bottom, a spill panelhingedly-connected to the top edge of one of said side panels andconstituting an inner cover for said container, an outer cover panel forsaid container hingedly-connected to the top edge of a second side panelnext adjacent said one side panel, a tuck-in flap for securing saidouter cover in closed position hingedly-connected to the edge of saidouter cover panel opposite its connection to said second side panel, awing brace panel, vertical when said container is resting on said oneside, hingedly-connected to the side edge next adjacent the edge of saidspill panel connected to said one side panel, said wing brace panelbeing progressively exposed as said spill panel hinges from a positionvertical to said one side panel to a position inclined thereto andinteracting means arresting exposure of said wing brace panel, limitingthe inclination of said s pill panel and supporting it in said inclinedposition.

10. The container of claim 9 wherein the interacting means are flap andnotch means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,561,568 7/1951Falk 22917 2,570,982 10/1951 Read 22917 2,684,792 7/ 1954 Kraus 229173,092,299 6/1963 Hasselholf 22939 JOSEPH =R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Examiner.

9. A DISPLAY, DISPENSING AND SHIPPING CONTAINER ERECTABLE FROM ACOLLAPSED, SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT FOUR-SIDED SLEEVE, COMPRISING A SNAPBOTTOM FORMED OF INTERLOCKING SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT PANELS, FOUR SIDEPANELS HINGEDLY-CONNECTED IN SEQUENCE AND UPSTANDING FROM SAID BOTTOMWHEN SAID CONTAINER IS RESTING THEREON, EACH SIDE PANELHINGEDLYCONNECTED TO A PANEL OF SAID BOTTOM, A SPILL PANELHINGEDLY-CONNECTED TO THE TOP EDGE OF ONE OF SAID SIDE PANELS ANDCONSTITUTING AN INNER COVER FOR SAID CONTAINER, AN OUTER COVER PANEL FORSAID CONTAINER HINGEDLY-CONNECTED TO THE TOP EDGE OF A SECOND SIDE PANELNEXT ADJACENT SAID ONE SIDE PANEL, A TUCK-IN FLAP FOR SECURING SAIDOUTER COVER IN CLOSED POSITION HINGEDLY-CONNECTED TO THE EDGE OF SAIDOUTER COVER PANEL OPPOSITE ITS CONNECTION TO SAID SECOND SIDE PANEL, AWING BRACE PANEL, VERTICAL WHEN SAID CONTAINER IS RESTING ON SAID ONESIDE, HINGEDLY-CONNECTED TO THE SIDE EDGE NEXT ADJACENT THE EDGE OF SAIDSPILL PANEL CONNECTED TO SAID ONE SIDE PANEL, SAID WING BRACE PANELBEING PROGRESSIVELY EXPOSED AS SAID SPILL PANEL HINGES FROM A POSITIONVERTICAL TO SAID ONE SIDE PANEL TO A POSITION INCLINED THERETO ANDINTERACTING MEANS ARRESTING EXPOSURE OF SAID WING BRACE PANEL, LIMITINGTHE INCLINATION OF SAID SPILL PANEL AND SUPPORTING IT IN SAID INCLINEDPOSITION.